Social neuropsychology of epilepsy in the digital age: A narrative review on challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Background and objectives

Social cognition (e.g., theory of mind and emotion recognition) is frequently impaired in people with epilepsy (PWE) and plays a critical role in social functioning. The impact of the digital revolution on the social neuropsychology of PWE remains underexplored, while clinical neuropsychology has been slow to incorporate technological advancements. This study aims to (a) evaluate the impact of digital communication on social cognition and functioning in PWE, and (b) explore the potential of digital tools to enhance their assessment.

Methods

Given the limited and fragmented nature of the available research, a non-systematic, exploratory, narrative approach was adopted. Literature relevant to the interplay of digital communication, social cognition, and social functioning in PWE was synthesized to identify key areas for future research.

Results

Digital communication differs from face-to-face interaction at phenomenological and neural levels; however, research on its effects in PWE remains scarce. Traditional social cognition assessments suffer from low ecological validity. Technological innovations, involving second-person paradigms and dynamic multimodal assessments, address these limitations. Digital biomarkers enable high-frequency, longitudinal data collection of intra-individual variability.

Conclusion

Digital tools offer the opportunity to improve the assessment of social cognition and functioning in PWE, especially regarding ecological validity, by enabling real-world, interactive, dynamic, and multimodal paradigms. Digital social cognitive proxies (e.g., markers of interactional synchrony) may help capture social cognition and functioning in highly dynamic disease trajectories in PWE more accurately. The interplay between social cognition, social functioning, and digital communication in PWE offers research opportunities into their complex and dynamic relationships.